By Pali Lehohla “Better data, better lives”, is the commitment from official statistics organisations across the world as part of celebrating World Statistics Day, October 20 2015.  Guided by the Fundamental Priniciples of Official Statistics and the call from United Nations General Secretary Ban Ki-Moon that “statistics are critical for evidence-based decision making across all   read more »

South Africa will hold its third in-person National Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) Forum on 7 and 8 August 2024, in the fourth year of implementation of the National NCA Strategy and just ahead of National Women’s Day. In line with the National NCA Strategy the National NCA Forum 2024 offers us an opportunity to reflect   read more »

Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), in partnership with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) and the Water Research Commission (WRC) hosted the second in-person Natural Capital Accounting Forum from 18 to 19 October 2022. The event brought together a wide range of experts to share knowledge,   read more »

The 254 institutions known as extra-budgetary accounts and funds (EBAs) form an important arm of government. Financial data for 2020/21 (1 April to 31 March) show a sharp rise in EBA spending as government rushed to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. Much of the increase was on social benefits, mainly for the COVID-19 Temporary   read more »

A more recent aspect of NCA is ecosystem accounting, which focuses on accounting for ecosystem assets and ecosystem services. Ecosystem Accounts fall under the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)1 Ecosystem Accounting2 framework, which provides a framework for systematic measurement of ecosystem assets, ecosystem services, and the benefits generated from ecosystem services for people and the   read more »

Postponement Notice: Delayed release of statistical publications   For immediate release                                                                                                 02 August 2021   Methodology changes due to COVID-19 result in delayed release of statistical publications Statistics South Africa (Stats SA)   read more »

The statistics published in this month’s issue of Mbalo Brief are mostly from March 2021, which marks a year since the start of the lockdown restrictions in South Africa as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the tourism industry is still struggling, partly due to the decrease in the number of international visitors, it   read more »

Just over a year after Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) suspended face-toface data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organisation issued a note on 26 April 2021 that the surveys are due to be undertaken. The Survey Officers (SOs) have returned to the field to collect data from households that have been selected to   read more »

Collection of contact details In March 2020, in the interest of respondent and staff safety, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) took a decision to stop all face-to-face fieldwork operations, and collect data for household surveys telephonically. Regular surveys that have been affected by this decision were the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS), which gives us   read more »

More than a year after Stats SA suspended face-to-face data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Stats SA Survey Officers (SOs) will return to the field to collect contact details from households that have been selected to participate in one of our household surveys. “We have updated our sample, and need to collect contact details   read more »